title: Inter-species differences for polychlorinated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in marine top predators from the Southern North Sea: Part 1. Accumulation patterns in harbour seals and harbour porpoises.
abstract: Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) are two representative top predator species of the North Sea ecosystem. The median values of sum of 21 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and sum of 10 polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners were 23.1 microg/g lipid weight (lw) and 0.33 microg/g lw in blubber of harbour seals (n=28) and 12.4 microg/g lw and 0.76 microg/g lw in blubber of harbour porpoises (n=35), respectively. For both species, the highest PCB concentrations were observed in adult males indicating bioaccumulation. On the contrary, the highest PBDE concentrations were measured in juveniles, likely due to better-developed metabolic capacities with age in adults. A higher contribution of lower chlorinated and non-persistent congeners, such as CB 52, CB 95, CB 101, and CB 149, together with higher contributions of other PBDE congeners than BDE 47, indicated that harbour porpoises are unable to metabolize these compounds. Harbour seals showed a higher ability to metabolize PCBs and PBDEs.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Ecophysiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Liesbeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Weijs
authors.forename: Alin C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Dirtu
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gheorghe
authors.forename: Peter J H
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Reijnders
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Neels
authors.forename: Ronny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Blust
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Covaci
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D008297:Male; D046049:Phoca / Q000378:metabolism*; D050741:Phocoena / Q000378:metabolism*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013045:Species Specificity; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*
chemical_list: D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls